Has anyone hiked Princeton in the last 10 days or so since it snowed a lot last week? I am looking to hike Princeton this Saturday or Sunday via standard East slopes route and am just looking for a bit of advice on snow conditions? Even if you drove through Buena Vista and could see the route from the highway, a general idea would be great!

I was reading online of past trips and this year doesn't seem to have an abundance of snow. Was thinking of doing the trip myself. Either this sunday or next friday. Let's talk if interested in joining up somehow.

"The best climber in the world, is the one having the most fun!" Alex Lowe

"In the mountains there is a strange market where you can barter the vortex of life for boundless bliss." Milarepa

Yeah, I agree with you on that the snow conditions are fair this time of year. I am hiking with zephyr_pelicante (Colby) and philip135792, two of my buddy's at Colorado School of Mines. Seeing this is mine and Colby's first winter 14er and Colby wants to do a shorter hike, we will be going to hike Mt. Sherman on Sunday morning. We will probably will try to start the hike by 6:30 to 7 am ish. We are leaving from Golden, I am driving and would have an extra seat if interested in hiking Sherman?

I will be looking to hike Princeton soon though if another nice weekend comes by in the future!

Went with a group (also all mines people) on a trip up to the chalet on the 12th. We decided to leave our snowshoes at the car because the trail seemed well trekked and we already had a lot of weight with sleeping bags and cooking supplies and what not. There were plenty of snowshoe and skinning tracks up to the radio towers, but once we passed those they are disappeared. After that point we were trudging through mostly mid-shin deep snow with knee deep in places. Once you get close to tree line, the blowing snow has made some hefty banks and gotten rid of the road. It's mostly hardpacked, and is fairly unstable and was cracking pretty bad. We went across those sections one at a time and didn't stop moving to reduce avalanche risk. Also, you couldn't even see the Mt. Princeton trail that veers off the road, and no cairns were visible. I used some crampons on the top section on the way down which helped. Took us 5.5 hours up and 1.5 hours down.

I attempted a solo up Princeton on the 18th. I would recommend parking at the 2WD trailhead; there is a good trench up to the radio towers. Beyond that I was breaking trail and as you get closer to treeline the snow gets deeper and deeper. There were a few places that you cross a gully that still consider a little thought about the avy risk. Also, there were a ton of fresh mountain lion tracks just as a heads up.